Libratus is an artificial intelligence computer program designed to play poker, specifically heads up no-limit Texas hold 'em.
The technique involved is a new variant of counterfactual regret minimization,[2] namely the CFR+ method introduced in 2014 by Oskari Tammelin.
[3] On top of CFR+, Libratus used a new technique that Sandholm and his PhD student, Noam Brown, developed for the problem of endgame solving.
Their new method gets rid of the prior de facto standard in Poker programming, called "action mapping".
As Libratus plays only against one other human or computer player, the special 'heads up' rules for two-player Texas hold 'em are enforced.
Artificial Intelligence: Upping the Ante challenge") against four top-class human poker players,[4] namely Jason Les, Dong Kim, Daniel McAulay and Jimmy Chou.
The player Dong Kim was quoted on the AI's strength as follows: "I didn’t realize how good it was until today.
[7] Of the human players, Dong Kim came first, MacAulay second, Jimmy Chou third, and Jason Les fourth.
Because of this Sandholm and his colleagues are proposing to apply the system to other, real-world problems as well, including cybersecurity, business negotiations, or medical planning.